12th Rivers Awards International Composition Competition Annnounced (RACC) 2023

The Shanghai Conservatory of Music will once again host the international Rivers Awards Composition Competition (RACC). As in previous years, the Composition and Conducting Department at Shanghai Conservatory of Music will organize this 12th edition of RACC which aims to promote extensive exchange between Chinese and Western music, encouraging innovative and explorative composition for Chinese and Western musical instruments, and build a high-end platform to introduce outstanding original musical works to the public. The jury will consist of experts and professors from prestigious Chinese and international music institutions.

This competition is open to participants under the age of 45 (born after December 31st, 1978) regardless of their nationality, location, or profession. The participants may be professional composers or teachers and students specializing in composition. No entry fee will be required from the participants. Entries for the competition must be composed for a mixture of listed Chinese and Western musical instruments (targeting a number of three to nine performers in total). The ensemble set must imperatively include at least one Chinese instrument with one Western instrument from below: one Dizi-bamboo flute (doubling Xiao), one Pipa, one Erhu, one piano, two violins, one viola, one cello, one double bass. IMPORTANT: Pre-recorded music or electronic music compositions will not be accepted The duration of the music should be 5-8 minutes and be marked clearly on the first page of the score.

The compositions submitted for this competition should be of original music work composed by each participant him/herself that has not been officially published or received any official awards. Participants should provide a clean and clear score of his/her composition anonymously. Any sign or mark made to the score that has no relation to the composition itself he/she will be disqualified. Any composition that doesn’t meet the above requirements will be disqualified. Members of the Jury Panel and the Organizing Committee are not allowed to take part in the competition. All materials submitted will be kept on file by the Host and will not be returned. The decision on the result of the competition made by the Jury Panel shall be held as final and definitive.

All the required materials must be submitted by e-mail before 5:00 p.m. (China Standard Time = GMT+8) on Wednesday, August 31, 2023. Participants may contact the Organizing Committee if they have any questions or enquiries.

Required application materials (which must be in the electronic form and sent by e-mail) include:

i) One clean and clear score by the participant (PDF only)
ii) One filled-out participation form that is signed by the participant him/herself
iii) One photo of the participant taken recently (33mm X 49mm)
iv) One piece of valid ID copy (could be the National Identification Card or Passport) that contains a photo and the exact date of birth of participant. Please email all these electronic documents mentioned above to the Organizing Committee at [email protected] before the deadline.

Participants may contact the Organizing Committee if they have any questions or enquires.
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 008621-64314220
Fax: 008621-64314220
Website: www.shcmusic.edu.cn/arcc (currently under construction)
Contact person: WANG Chen

To ensure fairness of the competition, all the composition works will be numbered and sealed up before selection. The competition will be divided into two stages. The preliminary round will be based on the submitted scores and ten finalists will be selected. The finals will take place in the form of a final live performance, where the award-winning compositions will be selected and announced. In the light of the seriousness and authoritativeness of the competition, certain awards will be left vacant if no composition meets the criteria.

The awards for the competition are categorized as follows:

First Prize (1) $10,000
Second Prize (2) $5,000
Third Prize (3) $1,500
Merit Prize (4) $1,000

The finalists should participate in the Final Live Concert and the Summit Forum of Rivers Awards-Winning Works, with their travel and accommodation expenses during the competition covered by the Host.

Time of the Final Live Concert: TBA
Venue: TBA

The winners of the competition will be announced on site upon the completion of the concert, which will be followed by the awards ceremony.

Relevant rights:
i) The award winner holds the copyright of the winning composition.
ii) The award winner must agree to grant the following rights to the Host free of charge:
a) The organizer has the right to use the award-winning composition or any other forms of audio-visual products for non-commercial purpose.
b) The organizer has the right to premiere the award-winning composition and the priority to publish and perform the winning composition.
iii) Each award-winning composition, regardless of when and wherever it is performed, should be marked as a prize-winning composition of the 12th Rivers Awards Composition Competition 2023 on the cover of the score or the program list of a concert. For example, In English: (This is) A third prize-winning composition of the 12th Rivers Awards Composition Competition 2023.

You can download the registration form below.